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GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO THE
CULTURE OF NON-VIOLENCE
[Major presentation at the 1999 Parliament of World's Religions at Cape Town, December- 1999]
The world of today stands on the threshold of a defining moment in history. Time has come for the realization of global commitment to the culture of Non-Violence. Victor Hugo was almost prophetic when he said:
"There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world and that is an idea whose time has come"
Far-reaching technological strides have made our world a global village'. InfoTech is at our doorstep and communications have been revolutionized. Spirit of globalism offers us the hope of a greater, wider and better civilization- fostering global community values.
Time has come to think of our collective future - future together of all human beings, irrespective of caste, color or creed, race or nationality, future together of all living beings, future together with Mother Earth, which sustains us. Jain tenet of "Parasparopagraho" (mutually dependent and mutually enriching coexistence among all living beings and Nature) has to become the universal guiding star.
Earth is a bright jewel in the enormously vast cosmos. It is the only live planet endowed with marvelous variety of forms of life and with atmosphere, fertile soils, forests, water and oceans. On this planet, humans are linked with other living beings and forces of nature in a divine web of interdependence. The universe belongs to all of us in
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